1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning auxiliary tool for use in cleaning and disinfecting an endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an endoscope is cleaned and disinfected by a cleaning and disinfecting apparatus after use. In an insertion portion of the endoscope, an air feeding conduit and a water feeding conduit are inserted through, and in the cleaning and disinfecting apparatus, cleaning and disinfecting of the air feeding conduit and the water feeding conduit are also performed.
In an operation portion of the endoscope, an air/water feeding cylinder is disposed, and the air/water feeding cylinder (hereinafter also referred to simply as “cylinder”) is formed as a concave portion having an opening and a bottom portion. On an inner wall of the cylinder, two openings for the air feeding conduit and two openings for the water feeding conduit are formed, and the air feeding conduit and the water feeding conduit communicate with each other in the cylinder. A button for air feed and water feed (hereinafter referred to as “air feed/water feed button”) is fitted in the cylinder, and a surgeon can perform the air feed and the water feed to the insertion portion of the endoscope by operating the air feed/water feed button.
When cleaning and disinfecting the endoscope, the air feed/water feed button is removed from the cylinder and a cleaning adapter is attached to the cylinder and thereafter the endoscope is cleaned and disinfected.
Further, if a foreign matter gets into the air feeding conduit or the water feeding conduit to clog the conduit, cleaning performance and disinfection performance in the air feeding conduit or the water feeding conduit cannot be secured. Therefore, a cleaning and disinfecting apparatus having a function of detecting clogging of the conduit using flow rate sensors respectively provided in the air feeding conduit and the water feeding conduit has been proposed.
In a case where liquids flowing in the air feeding conduit and the water feeding conduit meet in the cylinder, even if there is clogging in one of the air feeding conduit and the water feeding conduit, the flow rate sensors cannot detect the clogging, and therefore a separator for separating the air feeding conduit and the water feeding conduit from each other in the cylinder has been proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Translation of PCT Application Publication No. 2012-505032. The separator separates passages of the air feeding conduit and the water feeding conduit in the cylinder and thereby enables detection of the clogging of the respective conduits of the air feeding conduit and water feeding conduit.